276 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ingredients found, especially in the fermented liquors, as the hops in beer, juni- 

 per in ale, acids in wine and cider, etc. It is a common opinion that the effects 

 of these various drinks on the human system are modified by the presence of 

 these foreign substances ; but it is quite doubtful whether these extraneous sub- 

 stances in the quantities in which they are used, ever have any marked effect on 

 the system. The various effects resulting from the use of the different kinds of 

 drinks is more likely the result of the different degrees of dilution with water that 

 characterize them, or of the manner in which they are taken. If taken in con- 

 siderable quantities at once the effect will necessarily be more marked than if the 

 same quantity is taken gradually so that it may be gradually taken up and dis- 

 posed of by the system. In treating of the effect of alcohol on the human system 

 no distinction will be made as to the kinds of liquors which contain the alcohol 

 used. These effects are produced by two different processes, a chemical and a 

 physiological one. Its most important chemical property is to arrest and prevent 

 decomposition in all organic bodies, whether animal or vegetable. For this rea- 

 son it is largely used for the purpose of preserving natural history specimens in 

 the cabinets of scientists. In its antiseptic properties it is excelled only by creo- 

 sote, carbolic acid and arseniate of soda; but it has advantages over all these and 

 is more generally used. When taken into the stomach with food it prevents the 

 decomposition of the food under the action of the gastric juices, and hence it 

 tends to retard digestion and is detrimental to health. 



But as digestion must proceed that life may be preserved, this evil power 

 must be disposed of in some way. It is a well established fact that the digestive 

 powers of the stomach have no control over this powerful agent. As it cannot be 

 digested and as the digestion of food cannot proceed in its presence nature pro 

 ceeds at once to banish the unwholesome intruder. 



Instead of being digested, alcohol is taken up by absorption by the capillary 

 vessels of the stomach and introduced directly into the blood by which it is car- 

 ried to all parts of the system. It is evident therefore that alcohol cannot be re 

 garded as food in the ordinary use of the term. But it has been observed that if 

 a portion of alcohol be taken at regular and frequent intervals the weight of the 

 body will be increased. Numerous carefully conducted experiments prove this 

 to be true. This fact has led many eminent physicians to believe that alcohol 

 when taken into the stomach acts as a food. But this phenomenon may be ac- 

 counted for in more strict accordance with the facts without giving it this inter- 

 pretation. In order to a full understanding of this point it is necessary that we 

 turn aside a little and inquire into the manner in which food is made beneficial to 

 the system. Every organized being is composed of innumerable minute vesicles 

 termed " cells." These cells are constantly dying and being conveyed from the 

 system while their places are being supplied by others formed from material de- 

 rived from the food eaten. This process of composition and decomposition, of 

 birth and death, is constantly going on in all parts of the physical system. When 

 a particle of material has served its purpose in the system it loses its power to 

 further serve the purposes of the system, and its further presence is detrimental 



